


Hey Mister? She's my sister.

by StarlitShadowHuntress



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, backstory on the Evans women, because the Evans girls cant talk about their feelings, gee i hope i got the slashes and ampersands right in the tags, kind of angst???, like its not an uplifting fic but its not grim either, the Evans family is emotionally stunted, there's like a light sprinkling of angst well within your daily recommended value, theres a fair amount of feelings talk in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 00:01:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15545166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlitShadowHuntress/pseuds/StarlitShadowHuntress
Summary: This is a story about magic, and misery, and it ends in a great and ugly tragedy. But before all of that, there were two sisters stuck in the middle.First and foremost, this is a story about sisters.





	Hey Mister? She's my sister.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because Petunia Dursley deserves better than what she got.

Petunia and Lily Evans are, without a doubt, the closest sisters you’d ever come across.

Petunia is the older one, of course. By exactly one year and two hundred ninety days. She likes princesses and ponies, and reads to her sister until she starts to read herself.

At five years old, she listens to Lily (four at the time) as she tells Tuney how she’ll catch up and be five before Tuney turns six, that they will both be five at the same time. She smiles, and grabs crayons to draw with. Lily is not good at maths. Lily will always be the little sister.

At seven years old, she stands a full head taller than her little sister, her precious Lily. When she’s bored, she stands behind her and rests her chin on the top of her red hair. Lily hates it when anyone else does it, but she’s Petunia, and Petunia is always the exception.

They’re in the same ballet class. Lily’s shorter limbs give her a hard time, while Petunia’s long and gangly ones find use in ballet, her teacher telling her she looks like a swan.

Lily loves books, and Petunia even more so. They spend hours every summer perched together on the couch, a book settled between their bodies, telling stories only the sisters can share.

They dig up the garden every springtime, planting flowers, carefully weeding, and digging up worms for Papa to take when he goes fishing. They especially love it when he goes fishing and brings them a catch for supper. He promises to take them if they can prove they know how to swim.

When Petunia is eleven years old, Lily almost drowns in the public pool.

It is Petunia who saves her, who drags both of their bodies above the water’s surface and shouts loud enough for a lifeguard to come to their aid. Mama and Papa praise their lovely Tuney for being so smart and so brave.

Lily doesn’t take baths unless Petunia stays in the tub with her.

Soon after the incident, Petunia swings with her sister, now nine, and screams when she lets go and floats to the ground, unharmed. Stands in awe as she changes the colour of a dandelion just by holding it in her hands, willing the rainbow into the flower, commanding its essence to change to meet her demands.

She’s known, of course, since they were smaller, that Lily has something about her. She first felt it when exploring a library together. Lily had the uncanny knack of finding whichever book Petunia described. It felt like Lily had memorized the entire library catalogue, that the books would almost fly to her fingertips if she wished for it to happen.

Then, there was the incident with the pool. Once Petunia had both of their heads above water, Lily had… done something. Even though Petunia was the only one kicking her legs, both of them managed to stay afloat until help had arrived. Petunia was a smart girl, she knew about a lot of things, but her sister’s unusual buoyancy puzzled her.

Petunia knew she didn’t have that, whatever Lily had. That Lily was different. That didn’t mean she stopped loving her sister, that she didn’t stick up for Lily when she was in a spot of trouble, just that there were some things in life that Petunia knew she couldn’t help Lily with. She was afraid of those things. Lily counted on her to carry the books when the pile got too large. If she couldn’t help Lily, she wasn’t a responsible big sister.

So she tried to ignore it. Asked Lily to hide it from their parents for as long as possible, because she was scared of Lily’s secret, and didn’t want Mama and Papa to be scared of Lily just because she couldn’t hide what she couldn’t help.

And then that Snape boy came into the picture.

And he ruined everything.

* * *

 He had done nasty things, spied on the sisters, confronted her little sister and called Lily a witch.

And he had the gall to curl his lip and call Petunia a muggle, whatever that meant.

She did her best to forget about it. Tried her hardest to push Lily back home, back to where everything made sense.

“I’m curious about what he said.” Lily says, looking back over her shoulder.

“You don’t need to be.” Petunia snaps, a bit too quickly. “He’s an odd boy. Mama and Papa would hate it if you started talking to him. Let’s go to the library tomorrow. Maybe stay away from the playground for a bit, until he gets bored and stops bothering us.”

But of course, Lily went back.

And then she went back again, and again, and soon Petunia had to split her afternoons with her sister juggling time between her and the strange boy.

“Stop talking to the Snape boy!” She snaps, one afternoon. “He’s always filling your head with nasty stories, and you don’t even know if you can trust him!”

Lily sighs, packing up two sandwiches in plastic wrap. “Don’t you see, Tuney? If he’s different, and he knows that I’m different, maybe he can explain why I’m not like you!”

“You’re not like him, though! Just because he can do the same tricks that you can-”

“Oh, so they’re tricks, now?”

“He’s odd! He doesn’t have any friends, and he’s using these tricks as an excuse to get close to you, so he can try to be your friend! You told me his dad was a dangerous person! What if something bad happens to you?”

“Shut up, Petunia! It’s not like you’re Mama!”

“No, I might not be, but I’m your sister, and I care about you even more than Mama does!”

“Whatever! We’re going to go to school together, Severus and I, and we’re going to learn magic, and potions, and how to ride on broomsticks, and you’ll see that I was right about him!”

And Lily slams the front door shut.

Petunia worries the rest of the afternoon. If what Lily has told her is true, she’ll be far away in a school of other magical people, and nobody will see her until she comes back for Christmas or for Summer Holidays. What if there’s a lake near the school? What if Lily forgets her allergies? Petunia is turning twelve soon, and there’s still so much she doesn’t know. Her baby sister is going to be all by herself when she goes to this strange magic school. She won’t be there to make sure everything is alright, she won’t be there to protect Lily.

Petunia grits her teeth. Lily turns ten years old soon. She’ll have to act fast.

She pays a visit to the Snape household, a sad looking house with even sadder people.

She watches for a few days to make sure that Mrs. Snape is at home when Mr. Snape is gone and their son is out filling Lily’s head with weird knowledge.

She gathers her courage and knocks on the door.

“Hello, is it alright if I borrow your owl? I have a letter that I want to deliver to Headmaster Dumbledore.” 

* * *

She receives her response in under a week. Eileen Snape taps on their door and hands her the letter when Lily is out with her son (again).

Dumbledore has written an apology to her. He says that he’s sorry, but only people with magical potential are allowed to attend Hogwarts. He says he’s checked the list twice for her name, but only Lily’s has shown up. She won’t be coming to Hogwarts. He apologizes that Severus Snape has been so mean to her. Young Snape doesn’t have a sister, so he doesn’t understand how concerned Petunia is being, and how that’s perfectly normal and mature behaviour.

He says he understands her concerns for her little sister, and finds her very grown-up for writing to him with all of her questions. What a lovely, kind, elder sister Petunia is! Of course, he will remember that Lily Evans cannot eat fennel, and will make sure she has a glass of warm milk before she sets off to bed. He will remember to supply her with many bedtime stories, and four wonderful roommates that will read them with her. There are even owls that students can use to send letters back and forth in between holidays, so she won’t feel so lonely when her sister is far away. He thanks her for her letter, and hopes she will join her sister in helping prepare for her seven magical years at Hogwarts.

Of course, those will be seven years that Petunia doesn’t get to share with Lily.

Petunia scowls. He’s completely missed the point! She might as well try writing to Father Christmas and wishing she gets Lily’s powers come Christmas, because Dumbledore writes to her like an adult who is scared of what an angry child might do.

And he’d be completely right to fear her.

* * *

 

One year later, Lily turns eleven and Petunia is thirteen. A professor from Hogwarts visits their house and breaks the good news to the family. That Lily is magical. That Lily will be going to Hogwarts to learn about magic. Petunia would be a second year, maybe a third year at Hogwarts. Instead, she’s stuck in boring public school, knowing that in a year, her sister won’t be walking with her, won’t be taking the bus with her, won’t even be by her side or in their shared bedroom.

She’s thirteen when her mother sets the two of them aside. Tells them that they are going to grow into Evans women, and that Evans women are careful, dainty, and proper.

They spend the whole year after school learning how to be proper ladies. Ballet lessons are swapped for etiquette classes. The sisters sit with their ankles crossed or knees together and slanted. No longer needing to hide her powers, Lily puts on frilly dresses and jumps onto the couch, slowing her descent to give her enough time to kick out and tuck her legs elegantly to the side before landing. Their parents applaud her for her tricks.

Petunia walks with books on her head and works hard to gain even a hint of the pride Lily gets. She has to work longer at it, because Lily has found little ways to cheat with subtle hints of magic. She can pour tea flawlessly, her giggles are musical and attention drawing, and of course she has her beautiful red hair and charming green eyes.

Lily spends even more time with Snape, even insists on going shopping for school supplies with him and his mother when the summer rolls around.

Mama and Papa don’t care, and even ride with the Snapes in the car.

Petunia knows that Lily never meant to hurt her feelings, but it still hurts in her chest. Somehow, it hurts worse because its Lily, and she’d never hurt her on purpose.

Petunia eats some magic ice cream that’s fruity and keeps changing flavours, but watches younger children, magical children, with envy.

This is their world, not hers. She may be treated kindly here, but she is not welcome to stay.

Petunia pulls Mr. Ollivander aside to ask him a few questions while her parents puzzle over wizarding money.

She learns that even if she used Lily’s wand, nothing would happen. She’s not magical. Wand waving would be about as helpful as waving a stick around. Despite this, the magic wands have a trace on them that are only removed once Lily would turn seventeen. The wand chooses the witch, but if Petunia wanted to wave it around and yell some jiggerypokery nonsense, she would get in trouble.

About a week before Lily is set to leave on the Hogwarts Express, Petunia sends one final, desperate letter. Petunia gets into a row with Snape when she gets her response.

The row ends with her having a large tree branch dropped on her.

She complains to Mama and Papa, tries to use this as her leverage to get Lily to stop talking to him, but she says it was only an accident, that Sev never meant for it to happen and he just got scared, and Mama and Papa listen.

Petunia can’t even lie about snacking on biscuits, and here’s Lily, so calm and so trusted, that it twists her stomach and she has to ice her shoulder alone.

* * *

 She disappears, her little sister, onto the Hogwarts Express. A magnificent train that will steal away her sister until the Christmas Holidays. Petunia hates platform 9 ¾ . While Snape and Lily had no issues crossing through the fake barrier, she hesitated, and cautiously stuck her hand through the magical glamour before she could step through herself.

She tells Lily to have fun with the other freaks, and Lily reminds her that she had written to Dumbledore begging him to take her on.

Lily disappears and leaves Petunia waving to her on the platform.

Her parents argue when Lily’s gone. She sends owls once a week, but it never seems to be enough. Lily writes about her spells, what they do. New potions and how she wonders if its any similar to cooking. All of her new, magical friends. She talks about how she was sorted into a house that is different from what Sev was put in, but that they are still friends despite it. She talks about an annoying pair of boys in her house that do nothing but pull pranks all day.

Her parents argue over dishes, over laundry. Petunia does more chores. It gives her less time to think about everything Lily is doing without her. They all miss her. They all take to different ways to fill the gap only Lily has in their home. Petunia asks for a dog. Names him Bruno. When her parents raise their voices to a volume above pleasant conversation, she takes the coward’s route and goes upstairs, or takes Bruno for a walk.

Lily abandoned her for her fancy magic castle. Left her alone to deal with their parents, who care enough to turn her into a proper lady, but not enough to ask her how she’s doing.

Lily tries to teach her magic when she returns for Christmas. She stays in the house, because Snape has decided to stay at Hogwarts. She brings back books and a cauldron and multiple oddities that she claims help her magic or allow her to create potions.

She cooks with her cauldron. Says she can brew a flawless cure for boils when Sev is her partner. Puts her cauldron on the stove top and pretends to be Julia Child, chopping spleens and dropping blood, sweat, and tears into her cauldron.

Petunia reads through Lily’s books, but finds that nothing makes sense to her. The words and their deeper meaning fail to roll off her tongue the way they do with Lily.

“If it makes you happy, I can try to teach you some magic.” Lily offers. “I can probably teach you how to make things float. There's a rule that I can’t use my wand out of school, but surely me teaching you won't be breaking that rule.”

Petunia agrees. She studies with Lily, goes over the spell, the history, the theory, the proper casting motion.

She can’t even lift the corner of her blanket.

Instead, a fancy looking owl appears at their window.

Mr. Evans reads the letter and snatches Lily’s wand from Petunia’s grasp. “Lily isn't allowed to cast any spells while she is on holiday.” he says; quite simply. “And her wand can't be used at all. This was just a warning letter, but the next time this happens, Lily will face consequences. Petunia, you really ought to be more responsible and look out for your sister. Keeping her out of trouble is what we expect you to do as the big sister. Please act like one, darling.”

Petunia gets the real message her father is trying to convey. She isn’t magic, so she should stop trying to be like Lily. If she tried, she would only end up hurting herself and her sister.

This really is Lily’s world and Petunia can't follow her through it.

She hates magic. It stole away her sister.

* * *

 

Petunia feels it in each passing year. Magic is converting Lily. She no longer reads novels on history, unless it's magical history. When Petunia learns to curl her hair, Lily talks about a charm that does it magically. When Petunia stabs herself with the mascara wand, Lily flips through a spellbook of glamours and homebrew potions and points out the one she would use on a school day. Even the little things, like brewing a cup of tea change with magic. Nothing is the same between them anymore.

Lily brews one such beautification potion when she is fifteen, and splits it with a sixteen year old Petunia. Petunia watches her sister’s split ends disappear, and chugs her share of the flowery smelling brew. While she stands a little straighter, she doesn't see her horsey overbite disappear, doesn't find her face looks flatteringly flushed, still manages to count each freckle, and feels no other changes.

Lily concludes that perhaps potions only work on magical folk. Petunia mentally adds another tick to her tally of how the sisters have grown apart.

Here’s the thing. Each summer, when Lily returns to her side, she fits back almost seamlessly. There’s no talk of the “muggle” side of England when she’s at school, but all she has to do to catch up is ask for a few old newspapers. Lily deals with the transition between holidays flawlessly. When Lily starts being nervous about her future job in her magical world, Petunia doesn’t comment on how easily she could have a muggle job and still be happy. Lily has a choice to integrate back to the world she belonged to first. Lily could come home, and stay home forever. The sisters could find a flat in London, a home in each other.

Instead, Lily talks about a club she’s joined which her potions professor runs. She says she’s one of his most promising students, and because of that, she gets to go to those meetings and talk more with that professor, ask about jobs, things like that. She says Severus is there as well, and while she says they are still friends during Christmas holidays, that year in June the Evans family picks up only Lily from King’s Cross.

Petunia notices.

“So… why didn’t we pick Snape up this summer?” She asks Lily, who just shakes her head in response.

“We’re not friends anymore.” She responds, hugging Bruno close.

“Are you going to tell me what happened between you two?”

Lily just collapses onto her bed, Bruno sniffling at her hair.

Petunia shuffles her hands awkwardly, waiting for a response. When there isn’t one, she sighs.

“Look. I know that magic has been separating us, but I’m still your sister, okay? If he said something that hurt you, or if he did anything, you have to tell me. I’m on your side. I might not understand what he said or did to you, but I’m here.”

“You won’t understand, is the problem.”

“I won’t understand if you don’t tell me. I can ask questions about it, so don’t try and act like I’m a hopeless cause. Father already thinks so, I don’t need another family member turning on me.”

“He called me a nasty name when I tried to help him.”

“That’s it? That’s why you stopped being his friend? He’s called me hundreds of nasty names before, why didn’t you drop him sooner?”

Lily shakes her head. “I wanted to save him. This whole time, I wanted to save him.”

“From what?”

“His family, his loneliness, himself, I could go on and on about how hard I tried each and every day to make his better. To try and heal him.”

“And he didn’t appreciate it, huh? Took all of your generosity and tossed it out the window?”

“Yeah. It took me until he insulted me like that to stop and actually think about it. I've been terrible, letting him say and do such things to insult you.”

“He's got nasty habits? His horrible friends?”

“He said he loves me.” Lily said, quietly.

Petunia feels anger flare up in the pit of her stomach. “And he just kept using that to string you along further, didn’t he? He kept saying things like ‘I’ll get better as long as you stay with me’ and ‘please don’t go, you’re all I have and I love you more than you’ll ever know and understand’, didn’t he?”

Lily nods. Petunia sits down next to her sister and wraps her arms around Lily in one of the most comforting hugs the sisters have ever shared.

“I’m very sorry that you had to feel this way for so long.” She says. She feels Lily’s shoulders shake in a clear attempt at stifling tears. “Just cry. I don’t care. Our parents aren’t home, they don’t have to know.”

“Sev has been such a big part of my life, Tuney.” Lily admits, although it comes out a bit blubbery.

“It hurts, because you’ve known him for so long, yet he won’t change or grow up. It hurts because you felt good, having him depend on you for so long, and now that that’s gone, now that he isn’t there to support you, it’s hard to move on. I know.”

“And Marlene and Mary and Dorcas have done their best, trust me, but it’s still really hard for me to talk about it, because it feels like sometimes, they don’t understand it either.”

“Because our parents made us stifle our emotions to be their idea of proper ladies and because of that we find it hard to connect emotionally to others and accept their support in helping us get through tough times?”

Lily stops scrubbing at her eyes briefly. “Do you think that’s it?”

Petunia shrugs. “It’s my best bet, at least. Now, do I go over to the Snapes and start hurling insults at the boy that hurt you?”

“Nah. No need. I feel better just knowing that you understand.”

And it might feel like the girls are oceans apart in their own worlds, but the more they talk, the more that distance shrinks, until it’s just two girls, sisters again.

* * *

 Petunia meets a young man named Vernon while she’s in the middle of her typing course and Lily’s in her sixth year. They meet for coffee breaks a few times before he asks her to meet his parents. He showers her with gifts on Christmas and Valentines, and he has boring opinions on topics that Petunia couldn’t care less about. Even though she’d rather be alone to figure out her life, even though she made plans to move into a flat with Lily after she’s graduated from Hogwarts, Vernon makes Petunia feel wanted in a way she never felt, loved in a way that family sometimes fails to love in. And she wants that, even though she knows she doesn’t need it.

She brings him to visit the Evans’ household when she gets a normal office job and they’ve been seeing each other for three months (as her parents have taught her.) Even before her parents have met Vernon, she knows they will approve of him.

He ticks off all of the boxes on her parents’ checklist for a good husband.

  1. He’s a junior executive at his drill company (he has a job that will allow him to move upwards).
  2. He’s a year older than her (always go for an older man, as they’re more mature than the boys your age).
  3. He’s from a good family (she’ll live comfortably, and they’re all good folks from upstanding families. Can't have the wedding turn into a shameful affair, after all).
  4. He’s got perfectly normal views on perfectly normal things (even if, and especially because they’re painfully dull. Those views are the ones that will keep her in line, quench the rebellious streak and her supposed temper).
  5. He’s compelled to baby her, smother her in affection and make her decisions because he wants to take care of her, wants to prove he can provide for her and won’t let her get a word in edgewise over what’s best for her (never, not even once, should you care about your own feelings, if you know you will live a good life with this man).



When Lily comes back in the summer, she’s got her own boy problems.

“He loves you, then?” Petunia asks one afternoon when there’s nothing better to talk about.

“James? I suppose he must, if he hasn’t stopped obsessing over me after all these years.” Lily shrugs. “He’s gone out with other girls, and it doesn’t bother me. I’ve gone out with my fair share of people, too. I just find it weird. He’s been a bother ever since we knew each other, but now he’s actually changing.”

“You don’t find that odd?” Petunia blinks. “Like its his last-ditch attempt to go out with you before you never see each other again?”

“I don’t think so.” Lily says. “He’s a right git still, goes with his friends on crazy adventures, pulling off pranks left and right, but he’s gotten more smart about it. He caught me stress-crying this one time, and instead of making a move for himself, he just sat there quietly while I complained about all of life’s injustices. Then he asked if he could hug me, pulled me close and told me it would get better, and he’d try his best to help me see that. We aren’t enemies anymore. I’d say we’ve reached an odd level of friendship, where we just don’t say we’re friends but it’s quite implied?”

“That’s certainly considerate. Doesn’t sound like the Potter you were complaining about back in your first year at magic school. How’s he do when it comes to mum and dad’s list?”

“The stupid list of priorities?”

“Yeah.”

“I mean, he’s fit, and he’s the only son to an old family, if that matters, but I don’t think it should.”

“It sort of does, if you want our parents to accept this bloke.”

“And why does it matter to you?” Lily asks. “Is the fact that Vernon satisfies all conditions enough for you to love him?”

Petunia shakes her head. “You’re forgetting that we aren’t supposed to look at love as our first priority.”

“I don’t care.” Lily says. “I will date whoever I please, proper ladyship be damned.”

“Including perhaps James Potter, who you said you loathed more than mum’s diet ideas?”

“Shut up, Tuney!”

Petunia giggled, jabbing her sister playfully in the ribs. “Would you go for a ride on his _broomstick_? And of course, a ride on his actual broomstick?”

“Petunia!” Lily gasps, but she’s laughing too.

A week later, Lily reveals James has been collecting pictures of his time at Hogwarts.

“Remus wrote to me about it and I just got the letter today.” She explained. “He’s apparently collected photographs of himself and his friends since we started school. What he finds weird is that there’s photographs of me in it, even though neither of us can remember me posing for a photo taken by him or any of his friends. He suspects Dorcas gave him a few from her own camera, but we’re not sure why I’m in that album if James isn’t serious about how Remus says he feels.”

Petunia sighs. Vernon had offered her romantic gestures before, and this looked painfully like one.

“Lily, if you ever want to know what a person values, take a look at what they photograph.”

“How so?”

Petunia stretches her arms above her head. “Well, let’s say I gave you a camera but you can only take a single photograph with the remaining film, and you can’t get new film.”

“Weird, but okay.”

“And I told you to take a picture of something in this room. What would you photograph?”

“Excuse me?”

“You can only take one photograph. What will it be of?”

Petunia watches her sister look around the room, before Lily’s eyes settle on her own. “Hmm. You, I guess?”

“Why?”

“Because it would make you happy?”

“But why would that matter?”

“Because you’re important to me.”

“But why does that matter?”

“Because I want you happy?”

“Okay, but books make you happy, and magic makes you happier, and Bruno can always cheer you up. Why would you take a photograph of me, instead of your books, or your wand, or the dog?”

“They all have their value, I guess, but you matter more.” Lily tips her head. “I honestly have no idea where you plan to take this metaphor.”

“We also take photos when we go on vacation, but we do those to remind us of the memories we made that day. James doesn’t have any shared memories with you where you aren’t absolutely enraged at him. Why do you think James has so many photographs of you, despite all of that? Why go through all of the trouble?”

“Because I’m important to him, but he wants to remember times I was happy?”

“Yes, thank God you finally got it.”

“But those pictures were taken from my friends.”

“Because he’s afraid of you when you’re unhappy. A bully would have collected photos where you were blinking, or mid-sneeze, or something. He’s collected these pictures and you’re happy, and posing, and smiling in all of them. It’s not that he’s got an ideal of you stuck in his head, but he values when you’re at your best. I think that’s a man worth going for, Lils. If you want, of course.”

And Petunia’s little sister does go, and she’s wonderfully happy, and Petunia is just the slightest bit proud that she's right.

* * *

 

Petunia tries her best to support Lily through the years that follow, even if she doesn’t understand everything going on in their lives. She doesn’t have to understand the minute details. Lily is her sister, and that’s all that needs to be said.

When times are tough, Petunia welcomes Lily into her small flat with open arms. It’s an open hiding place for members of the Order.

When Vernon proposes, Lily is there with champagne and wizarding drinks. When Lily gets engaged, Petunia plays the radio loudly so the sisters can celebrate, singing along and dancing around to the beat.

When Lily is forced to go into hiding, weeks before Petunia’s wedding, the sisters cook up a genius plan.

It’s the hardest decision of her life, staging that argument and personally uninviting her sister from her wedding, especially in the middle of Charing Cross, so close to Wizarding London, but Petunia knows what must be done to protect her little sister.

Petunia gets married with her father walking her down the aisle, and her little sister on her other side, hidden under James’ invisibility cloak. Guests to the wedding wonder how they could have afforded fireworks, but the now married Evans women know better.

Dudley Dursley and Harry Potter have a single playdate, and Dudley almost crashes on the broomstick that Uncle James passes to him. The adults have a laugh about it, and Petunia remembers to get back home to Privet Drive before Vernon’s car pulls up.

Lily apparates her home, and then asks Petunia to make a promise.

* * *

 

When Petunia loses her sister, she’s filled with an unimaginable amount of grief. Nothing can soothe her pain, and she spends weeks holding Harry tightly, Dudley strapped in a sling on her side.

Then, she remembers the promise she made to her sister, and to an old man who denied her the world her nephew was born into.

She knows she has a job to do, to keep protecting her sister, even when she’s so far gone.

Petunia Dursley has to hate magic.

* * *

 

When all is said and done, a painful seventeen years later, Petunia shows up at Harry’s doorstep on her knees, begging for mercy. She came alone, because this is something that only the two of them have the right to settle. Nothing that she did was okay. None of her actions can be excused, and she doesn’t deserve forgiveness for her actions. She knows that. She just wants Harry to know how much she regrets all of her actions.

Harry invites her in, which surprises her. He makes her a cup of tea and asks for her side of the story.

Petunia blinks back her tears and tells him everything.

* * *

 

Years later, she is a grandmother and a great-aunt and she loves all five of them boundlessly. She joins her son and her nephew at King’s Cross Station to wave the little ones off on the Hogwarts Express. Dudley’s eldest daughter is on the train for the first time this year, while two of Harry’s children are going to the same school their parents went to, promising to look out for their cousin no matter what.

Petunia still keeps candles lit for her sister, still prays that one day, her sins will be forgiven. Until the day she can see her sister again, she allows herself to hope that her Lily is waiting for her, too.

If what Harry tells her is true, one day she’ll get what she wanted since she was a little girl. Her chance to ride the Hogwarts Express with her sister will come.

There are, of course, powers greater than magic.

**Author's Note:**

> I love my sister


End file.
